You're Not My Husband
by thewarlockandtheshadowhunter
Summary: Dean wakes up one morning to find that the Castiel next to him is not the one he was expecting to find. Cas is arriving from the Season 8 timeline. DISCLAIMER- I don't own Supernatural. sammy-is-a-sassquatch created the cover graphic.
1. You're Not My Husband

Dean Winchester smiled faintly as he woke up, nuzzling closer to the warmth that was beneath him. He could feel the now familiar comfort of arms around him, although this morning something felt different. The usually strong embrace was loose, as if uncertain that it should be there at all. Slowly blinking his eyes open, Dean put the observation down to sleepy hysteria and pushed it to the back of his mind. He started pressing soft kisses along his husband's neck, just as he did mornings. "G'morning, Cas," he mumbled, his voice still thick with sleep before he pressed a gentle, lazy kiss to the other's lips.

It took Dean three seconds to realise something was wrong. The kiss felt like it was their first kiss all over again. Not in the good way that it usually did, as in Dean wondered how he got so lucky. Cas was kissing him back like he was surprised he was getting kissed in the first place.

The ex-hunter pulled away quickly, all traces of sleep gone as he looked like Cas. He looked like his Cas, the Cas he woke up to every morning, but different...it took Dean longer than it should have to realise Cas was in his suit and trench coat and not the t-shirt and pyjama pants that he'd fallen asleep in before, which was the same outfit Dean was wearing. He could see confusion all over the other's face, as clearly as if the word was written in marker pen on his forehead.

"You're not my husband," Dean muttered, too shocked to move.

Castiel blinked up at him before replying. "No, I am not your husband," he agreed in the deep voice that was as familiar to Dean as his own.

"Where are you from?" He asked, his voice strangely calm considering the panic that was steadily rising within him at the sight of the not quite right Castiel in front of him.

"Heaven. Dean, I thought you were aware of that," Castiel answered seriously.

Dean rolled his eyes - some things never change. "Yeah, Cas. I meant where were you before you were here?" He elaborated, trying to calm the still rising panic.

Castiel's eyebrows furrowed and Dean had to resist the urge to kiss the small crease that formed between them, reminding himself that this wasn't the Cas he was married to. He currently couldn't remember how the ritual started, but it usually made Cas stop frowning. Well, Dean's Cas anyway. "I was in a motel room with you and your brother. We had just finished a case and we were going to leave in the morning. Then...I was here," he explained simply.

Dean groaned, rolling off of his husband's doppelylgänger. "This is some Doctor Who worthy crap right here," he muttered, mostly to himself as he glared up at the ceiling.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand that reference," Castiel stated quietly after a minute of silence.

"It means that you and my husband have switched places and are in the wrong universe," he explained, quiet and concise.

"Oh."

"Yeah. Oh." Dean sighed, looking up at the ceiling as if it was its fault they were in the mess they were in. He liked doing that - whenever there was trouble he'd scowl at the nearest inanimate object and mentally pass the blame onto it. Although it sounded stupid, it helped him clear his head a lot better than Sammy's chick-flick worthy talks ever did.

"So...we're married?" Cas asked finally.

Dean nodded, "Yeah. We'd been out of hunting for a few years and I proposed and you said yes. Happily ever after ending. I should've known something like this was going to happen." Dean sighed, turning his head to look at Castiel. The other man was already looking at him and it took Dean a moment to figure out the emotion being conveyed in the bright blueness of his eyes.

Wistful longing.

"I gather our relationship in your universe isn't quite at that stage yet," he commented dryly.

"It hasn't," Castiel confirmed.

Dean nodded - Castiel's clumsy kissing alone had clued him into that fact. "You won't be rejected you know. If you make the first move."

"I do not think proposing would be the best idea."

He laughed, "That's not what I'm talking about. Not yet anyway. I just mean relationship wise. When you get back, you should just grab me by the shoulders and kiss me." It occurred to Dean that this was one of the strangest situations he'd been in; advising other Cas on the best way to get with other Dean. He pushed the thought away, "It worked alright when I did it to you," he added, winking at Cas and being rewarded with a shy smile.

"I suppose that might work. Although, how can you know that I will not be rejected? We are from two different universes. They may be similar in many ways, but they are not the same," Cas reminded him gravely. "You have no way of knowing that the Dean I am acquainted with shares the feelings that you have for the Castiel of this universe."

Dean smirked, "I knew you were going to say that. Lucky for you, that you already told me the answer." He paused to admire the sheer ridiculousness of that sentence before continuing. "You told me long ago that we share a 'profound bond'-" he did a bad imitation of Castiel's voice, gaining an amused smirk from the servant of Heaven, "-but you didn't explain it completely until after we were married. According to you, no matter what the scenario, you would've performed some act of rebellion for me. Even if you weren't an angel and I weren't a hunter. It's the act of rebellion that is the beginning for us and from then on we fall for each other. Apparently it's Cupid's design. Rather than hit us in every universe with a love arrow and mark us that way-" Dean's nose crinkled slightly. It always creeped him out that there was Enochian carved onto his heart, "-he's set things up so that your rebellion does it for him. Basically, we're soulmates. No matter what, we're going to end up loving each other," he explained, finishing with a proud grin. When Cas had first explained it, he thought he'd never make sense of it, never mind explain it to another person. Plus the words themselves have him a small rush. Cas was his soulmate, it was hard not to get excited by that.

"Soulmates?" Cas repeated, looking at Dean like he'd just told him he was a genie who could grant him unlimited wishes. Dean simply nodded in reply, smiling at the hope and excitement that were easy to see on the other man's face.

Castiel sat up, "I just return as soon as possible," he stated, clearly eager to get going at that very moment.

"And how're you going to do that?" Dean asked. He hated to be the one who burst Cas's bubble, to see his shoulders slump as he remembered the Dean he wanted was not simply a bus ride away.

"I don't know," he admitted finally.

"You're in luck again, Cas," Dean stated with a small sigh as he sat up. "Because I'm pretty sure I know exactly which English bastard brought you here. And if he wants to keep living, he'll take your ass right back."


	2. Meddling Demon

Cas was pacing back and forth restlessly as Dean surveyed him over the top of his coffee mug. Cas had been all for calling on Crowley as soon as Dean had stepped one foot out of bed, but the ex-hunter had stated that he was too hungry and reminded Cas that he wasn't an angel and had to follow his human needs. He hadn't had to say that in a long time. Well...at least not in a non-flirty situation.

Dean quickly pushed those thoughts away, eating some more of his toast. "Cas, sit down. You're making me nervous," he said finally, pleased that the angel actually listened to him and sat down across from him at the breakfast bar. It was strange - Dean was facing the same sight he saw almost every morning, yet now that he was awake the small differences between the two versions of Cas were very easy to see.

"When did you do it?" Castiel's gravelly voice pulled Dean away from his train of thought.

"Do what?"

"Pull out of hunting."

"Oh." They had both realised as Dean made himself breakfast that they had been following a very similar time line. Apparently it was hard to run away from the Apocolypse by being in another universe. "After Sammy got his soul back. I didn't really want to hunt full time anymore after everything that had happened...I still help whenever Sam needs me, but I mainly just find cases for him now. He isn't ready to give it up yet," he shrugged, sipping some more of his black coffee.

Castiel nodded, "I think the Dean of my universe would have benefitted if he had quit then," he admitted, his deep voice sad and thoughtful. "I think now it is going to take a lot for him to even consider that an option."

Dean nodded, pushing the remanants of his breakfast away. He drained the last of his coffee, making a disgusted face as he tasted the sludge at the bottom of the mug. He half-slammed the mug back down onto the counter, startling the angel in front of him. He aimed an apologetic smile in Castiel's direction before getting up. "C'mon. Lets go raise that bitch and get things back to normal," he said enthusastically before moving towards the basement. He didn't look back to see if Cas was following him - he knew it would be. It was like a sixth sense, knowing where Cas was. One that had developed quickly out of necessity, since Cas was like a ninja in a trenchcoat. Dean flicked on the light before walking down the stairs.

The basement was very much like the boot of the Impala - not what you would expect it to be. It looked ordinary at first glance, but all it took was for Dean to move the large rug in the centre of the room for its true nature to be revealed. Spray painted in red was a large, powerful devil's trap. Moving over to a large set of drawers at the side of the room. Dean pulled open the top one which was filled with various cans of spraypaint. Picking up the red one. he returned to the devil's trap and sprayed the sigil used to summon Crowley, just outside of the trap.

He once again returned to the drawers, putting the paint back and closed the top drawer, only to open the one underneath it. He pulled out some candles, a box of matches, a small bowl, and two knives - one a regular kitchen knife and the other ceremonial, the metal still managing to appear menacing in the dim light being produced in the basement.

Closing that drawer, he bent down to the third and final one, pulling it open. Within seconds, the scent of herbs started wafting up and Dean couldn't help but inhale deepily. The mix of herbs smelled nice, even if they were in the drawer to be used for demon summoning. Picking out the ones he needed, he put them down next to the bowl, kicking the drawer shut with a soft, yet satisfying thud.

With the speed of someone who had had a lot of practice - which of course, he had - he chopped up the herbs, adding each one to the bowl. Once that was done, he picked up the ceremonial knife. "Cas, I'm going to need some of your blood. Otherwise, we'll summon the Crowley from this universe and not get any answers," he said softly, hoping that that was right.

"Of course, Dean." Castiel walked over, crossing the room in only a few strides and holding out his hand over the bowl. Carefully, Dean made a small cut and watched as the blood trickled off Castiel's hand and became part of the mixture. Cas returned to his previous spot once his blood had been added.

He didn't need to look at a diagram to know where to place the bowl and candles on the sigil. He'd memorised their positions long ago. It took him a few trips to get everything in order, the box of matches in his hand. He glanced over at Castiel, seeing him look at the devil's trap in stoney silence. Dean sighed, turning back again and lighting a match. Quickly, he lighted the candles before saying the incantation. "Et ad congregandum eos coram me." He threw the match into the bowl, flinching away from the burst of fire that erupted.

"Bloody hell."

Dean turned toward the English voice, scowling at the demon that was now trapped in his basement. "What're you playing at Crowley?"

Crowley looked at Dean, with a look of innocence that was ill suited to his face. "I have no idea what you're going on about, squirrel."

For a moment, Dean panicked. What if they had summoned the wrong Crowley and he really didn't know anything? However, it only took a few moments of looking at Crowley to discern that the innocence really was fake. Dean rolled his eyes. "I'm not in the mood for your crap. Tell my why you switched Cas with one from another universe," he snapped. WIth every passing moment he was feeling the pain of the switch more keenly and he just wanted his Cas back. He knew as soon as he got him, he wasn't letting him go. Not after this.

Surprising everyone in the room, Crowley gave a straight answer without much hastle. "Because the Dean and Castiel of his universe-" he made a sweeping gesture in Castiel's direction, "-need to be taught a lesson."

"_What?_" Surprisingly, the question had sprung from Castiel's lips, rather than Dean's. Dean couldn't remember hearing so much confusion tied to one word.

Crowley rolled his eyes, turning to Cas. "You heard me, angelboy. You and your hunter need to be taught a lesson. One that from what I've seen, you've already started learning." With that he glanced at Dean and he came to a sudden realisation.

"Is your life really that boring that you have to meddle in other people's love lives?" Dean asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow.

"Destiny was being a little too slow for me. I thought I might as well speed up the inevitable," Crowley retorted dryly, still looking at Castiel who was staring at Crowley like he had never seen him before.

"So you...you brought me here...to-"

"To make you realise that you and Dean were meant to be, yes." Crowley nodded, his tone implying that his reasoning really should have been obvious from the moment Cas had arrived in bed with Dean. "Nothing gets past those celestial senses of yours," he drawled.

Dean was also struggling to come to terms with the explanation. It wasn't exactly unusual for Crowley to mess with them, but it was just strange for him to be doing it for a reason other than his own entertainment at seeing them flounder to try and fix the situation he'd put them him.

"Whatever, Cupid. Like you said, he's learned his lesson, now switch them back," Dean demanded, since Castiel seemed to tongue tied and confused to utter another word.

Crowley once again turned to Dean, looking at him as if he was an idiot. "I can't do anything while I'm in your little trap," he reminded him with a sneer.

Dean hesiatated - Letting Crowley out was not high on his list of good ideas, but annoyingly the demon was right. If he was going to switch them back, Dean was going to have to break the trap. "I want your word that you'll do switch them back without a fuss. And if you try anything shifty, you son of a bitch, I will kill you," he threatened, scowling at Crowley.

The demon sighed in exasperation, "I _pinky swear _that I'll switch them back without a fuss. Satisfied?" He snapped, clearly starting to get frustrated with the situation.

"Not really," Dean muttered, although he knew that was the best he could ever hope of getting. He walked back to where he had left the knives, picking up the ceremonial one - not because he thought breaking the trap was worthy of using it, but because it was closer than the other one - and strode back, crouching down in front of the trap and once again hesitating before scraping away some of the paint.

Crowley stepped out of the circle, rolling back his shoulders as if limbering up for some straining exercise. Dean realised it really must take a lot of power to switch two people from different universes. He wasn't going to let on to Crowley that he actually thought it was quite impressive that he could do it at all, even if he was currently using it in a somewhat childish way - he didn't need Crowley's ego to explode.

"Come over here," he instructed, aiming the words at a still flabbergasted Castiel. The angel moved forward without hesitation and Dean didn't know if it was because of his excitement about going him or if he was still so shocked he would do anything he was told to do.

Crowley put his hands on Castiel's shoulders, staring intently at the angel. Dean watched from the side, begrudgingly interested in how the process of switching people from different universes worked.

With no warning, a sudden blast of pure white light flooded through the basement and Dean turned his head away from the brightness, his eyes snapping shut on instinct.

And then there was nothing.


	3. What're You Talking About?

Meanwhile in the other universe...

* * *

Dean lay on the uncomfortable motel bed, which felt worse than it had ever had before since he was getting used to his room in the bunker and his new, awesome memory foam mattress.

He woke up slowly, feeling someone gently shaking him. "Sammy, go away, not everyone likes getting up at the crack of dawn," Dean grumbled, starting to turn away. He paused when he heard a quiet chuckle. A chuckle that definitely didn't belong to his little brother. It was only then he realised that there was somebody in bed with him, cuddled close to his side.

"Dean, get up, it's me." Castiel replied softly, his voice a lot closer to Dean than he was expecting.

The hunter decided he was dreaming. That was why Cas was for some reason in bed with him. That was the only thing that made sense. There was no other reason Dean could come up with for the angel to be in bed with him. So, Dean cuddled Cas closer - he didn't have anything to lose by doing so. It was his dream, he could do anything he wanted.

"No, I'm tired," Dean grumbled, smiling faintly as he hid his face in Castiel's soft hair.

Unseen by Dean, Cas rolled his eyes. "Get up!" He playfully whined, although there was a hint of urgency in his voice. He tilted his face up to press a soft kiss to Dean's lips.

Dean kissed back, tightening his arms around Castiel. It took him a few moments to realise that this kiss felt all to vivid to be a dream. Which meant...Cas was really kissing him. At some point in the night, the angel had crawled into bed with him and how he was kissing him. Dean pulled away, staring down at Castiel in shock. "Cas? What was that for?" He asked, the questions almost coming out as a squeak.

Castiel frowned up at him, "What do you mean, what was that for? It's not like I haven't kissed you before..." He reminded him, looking at Dean with a worried gaze.

"Y-you _haven't _kissed me before!" He retorted, frozen with shock. Or at least if he had, Dean couldn't remember it, which seemed very unlikely unless his memory had been wiped. Actually kissing Cas would be very hard for him to forget.

Castiel's frown deepened, "Yes, I have. Many times."

"No, you definitely haven't, Cas. I'm pretty sure I would remember if you had," Dean replied earnestly.

Cas sat up, looking down at Dean like he was going crazy. "Dean, I swear I've kissed you before! And what are we doing in a motel room? We were at home..." Castiel was clearly starting to panic and Dean didn't know whay to do to help him calm down.

He sat up next to him, "Cas, we were doing a case, remember?" He prompted gently, starting to get really worried about the angel. "Me, you and Sam. We ganked the wendigo yesterday and decided to stay at the motel one more night..." He looked around, wondering where his sasquatch of a brother was right now. He really could do with some help, but his brother wasn't in bed and the bathroom door was wide open, revealing it was empty as well. Dean mentally swore - Sam must've gone to get breakfast or something. He turned his attention back to Cas, who looked like he was close to tears.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he confessed shakily.

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?" Dean asked softly.

"We were at home-"

"In the bunker?" The hunter interrupted.

Cas looked confused at the interruption. "What bunker? No, we were at home. You know, the one we bought a few years ago? And we were in bed and then...and then we were here and I don't know how or why."

They had a house? In what world did they have a house? Dean had never bought a house in his life. "I don't...Cas, I don't know what you're talking about," he said finally.

Cas looked at him, desperately pleading him with his big blue eyes to know what he was talking about, but no matter how much he wanted to, Dean couldn't do it. Slowly, something in Castiel's gaze shifted, like he was realising something. "You're not you..." He murmured finally.

That confused Dean almost as much as everything else Castiel had said up to that point. "Cas, that doesn't make any sense..." He said slowly, as if uncertain that was actually the truth.

"It does. I don't know how, but you are not the Dean I know," he stated, phrasing his sentence carefully. "And I do not think that I am supposed to be here."

Dean shook his head slightly, "I don't know what you're getting at," he replied, "What do you mean you aren't supposed to be here?"

"I am from another universe. One where...Dean, I am married to you," he told the hunter, biting his lip anxiously as he waited for Dean's reaction.

Dean tensed. He was married to Cas? There was a universe where he was married to Cas? He looked down at Castiel's left hand, his eyes widening slightly as he saw the golden metal band that proved his words to be true, along with a thinner silver ring. "We're married," he murmured, as if testing out the words to see what they would sound like.

Cas smiled faintly, "Yeah. We're, uh...we're soulmates actually."

"Huh?" Dean's eyes snapped away from the wedding ring and what had to be an engagement ring to Cas's face to see if the angel was joking. He didn't appear to be.

"We're soul mates. Destined to be together no matter what," Castiel repeated simply.

"Is that...only in your universe?" He asked, not quite managing to keep the hope out of his voice. It really would be a dream come true, as chick-flick worthy as that sounded, if Castiel was his soulmate.

Castiel softly chuckled, "No, it's not only in my universe. It's in all of them, that's the whole soulmate idea," he pointed out with a small smile.

Dean felt his heart rate pick up, "Yeah, ok. Awesome," he breathed.

Castiel opened his mouth as if to say something when the motel door opened. "Dean, I got you some-" Sam froze as his eyes landed on Dean's bed. "Well...finally! I was getting sick of you two just staring at each other all the time," he sighed, clearly relieved as he closed the door behind him.

Dean stared at his brother in shock, "_What?_"

"What do you mean, what? You two are so obvious it's actually kind of embarrassing."

Dean had no idea what to say to that and glanced at Cas for help. The angel however, was clearly too amused by this development to help Dean in any way. He turned back to Sam, "Sammy, this isn't...this is a different Cas."

Sam frowned, going over to the table and dropping the bag in his hand onto it before plopping down onto one of the chairs, facing the men in the bed. "What do you mean?"

"I am from a different universe where I am married to your brother," Cas supplied, since he could see that Dean was struggling to come up with an explanation for a thing he was still trying to wrap his own head around.

Sam's jaw dropped and he stared at Cas in shock. "Y-you're married to Dean?" He stammered. Castiel simply nodded, not having anything else to add. "But...how're you here? Why're you here?" Sam asked curiously.

Castiel shrugged, "I don't know, I just woke up here. I can not think of any reason that I would be brought here. And I do not know how I am going to get back either."

Sam nodded, "We'll figure something out. There has to be some kind of ritual that can send you back to your Dean. We'll find it," he said reassuringly, his face determined.

Cas smiled, "Thank you. That means a lot to me, Sam."

"Should we drive back to the bunker? There's probably some stuff there about rituals that can get him back," Dean said, finally working through his shock and speaking again.

Sam nodded, "That would probably make sense," he agreed.

"Where is this bunker? When did you even-" Cas stopped mid sentence, tensing.

"Cas? Cas, what's wrong?" Dean asked as soon as Cas stopped speaking, panicking at the sudden freeze.

"i don't know. I feel strange," Castiel murmured uncertainly.

Within moments, the room was filled with an unexplained white light that filled every crevice and surrounded them. Every man in the room closed his eyes, trying to shade them from the sudden burst of brightness.

And then there was nothing.


End file.
